Alabama Listings

Alabama is a state in the southeastern United States that is rich with tradition. Residents of the state are proud of their heritage and are quick to defend the home that they love. While there is a lot to like about Alabama, it has also had serious problems with drug abuse in recent years that are only getting worse.

In 2007, Alabama experienced 204 incidents in which law enforcement had to shut down homemade meth labs. In 2009, that number rose to 610 incidents. This was almost a 200% increase in meth labs having to be shut down in only two years, and the problem is continuing to escalate.

Meth labs are one of the worst drug problems that can confront a state for many reasons. One is that the production of meth is itself dangerous to everyone in the home and in the surrounding neighborhood. Methamphetamine is created by mixing a number of toxic chemicals together. These chemicals can include antifreeze, battery acid, drain cleaner and the red phosphorus from match sticks. All of these substances are highly toxic to the human body, so it is no wonder that they are deadly when combined to make meth.

When someone starts using this drug, the effects quickly set in. Your teen can rot away, and it’s not common for your hair to start falling out and for your skin to be damaged to the point that you look decades older than your actual age. It’s not a surprise, as using meth means that you’re putting corrosive chemicals directly into your body.

With all the danger that this drug brings despite its popularity, it’s important to understand that it’s not even the number one most consumed drug in the state.

The Drug Abuse Problem in Alabama

Even though most families in Alabama would tell you that they’re completely against the idea of drug use, the truth is that it has continued to spiral out of control throughout the state. The Alabama Drug Control Update shows that 3.8% of Alabama residents use an illegal drug other than marijuana on a monthly basis. This is higher than the national average of 3.58%. This means that the people of Alabama are using more hard drugs than other Americans, which is a serious cause for concern.

The breakdown of exactly which drugs are the most popular in Alabama is important information for any family to have. If you aren’t educated on what drugs are out there in your community, there is no way to spot them when drug use starts to affect the lives of the people you care about. Taking a few minutes to educate yourself on the effects of common and popular drugs in Alabama will pay off if you’re able to help even one of your loved ones to escape from the trap of addiction.

With that understood, here are the current most popular drugs in Alabama, as measured by the number of residents that have reported to rehab centers for helping in getting over their substance abuse.

Marijuana:

Marijuana is the most popular drug in Alabama, and it is the drug that has the most residents of the state asking for help from rehab centers due to addiction. This may come as a surprise to some because one of the common myths about weed is that it is not addictive. If you ever have a conversation with someone that favors marijuana legalization, they are bound to bring up this common, but false, myth. The truth is that marijuana is addictive, and more people go to rehab to get over their addiction to it than they do for any other drug.

Cocaine:

The second most common drug in Alabama may surprise some due to the fact that it has dropped in popularity in recent years. Across the country, Americans are not using nearly as much coke as they used to. It is still very popular in Alabama and other states in the South, however. This may be partially due to the fact that most cocaine is transported into the US through Mexico. Distribution travels through the South to populous areas with the most buyers, so it makes sense that a lot of the drug would be sold in Alabama along the way.

Prescription Opiates:

The powerful prescription painkillers that have become so common in the United States are chemically classified as opiates. They are similar to opium, morphine, and heroin, and they react in the body in a similar fashion. While prescription painkillers were designed to be a safe way to treat chronic pain, they actually create more addicts than heroin in many states, including Alabama. Lawmakers and police are looking for ways to stem the tide of this growing epidemic, but painkiller may eventually have more addicts than any other drug in the US.

Stimulants:

While they are increasing in popularity, stimulants (which include meth) are currently the fourth-most widespread drug in the state. These drugs make you feel like you have more energy, but they eventually drain your willpower to accomplish anything in life. Along the way to destroying your mind, they also tear your body down and leave you a physical and emotional wreck.

Other popular drugs in Alabama include tranquilizers and heroin, but these drugs are used much less often than the four drugs listed above. Families should study up on all drugs used in the state in order to be the best prepared, though.

Find Rehabilitation Facilities in Alabama

While there are hundreds of thousands of addicts in Alabama, there are not nearly enough treatment centers available to help everyone that has a substance abuse problem in the state. Even if every single addict decided today that they wanted to get help and turn their lives around, Alabama would not be able to provide beds for all of them.

An additional problem is that the quality of rehab facilities is not consistently high across the state. Far too many rehab centers rely on outdated models of treatment that rely on ideas like “drug replacement therapy.” This is the idea that instead of helping someone get off of drugs, you should simply give them a different drug to use. For example, many rehab centers are “helping” heroin addicts by just giving them methadone, another opiate drug. This doesn’t do anything to actually treat the heroin addiction, and if anything happens to the methadone supply, the addicts go right back to using the drug they were on before. Many methadone users admit that they actually continue to use heroin even while taking methadone.

If you have a loved one that needs help with recovering from drug addiction, you need to find a rehab center that is committed to actually helping them stop using drugs. If a rehab center really wants to help, it will commit itself to using all-natural drug rehabilitation therapy with the end goal of the addict not using drugs. Some rehab centers are able to commit to this end goal and also have the proven results to back up their effectiveness at reaching that goal. Keep on searching till you find them, and you will have a much greater chance of actually seeing your loved one sober again.

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